Let's Talk SciComm

This week we’re so excited to introduce you to one of our former science communication students, Amy LeBlanc. Amy started off studying bird communication at the University of Melbourne but ended up graduating into full-time science communication instead! These days, Amy lives in Ghent, Belgium, where she is the Chief Editor of BioVox, an online news platform covering life sciences innovations. She spends a lot of her time interviewing scientists and industry leaders from around the world, writing articles, and editing content. She also works as a science communicator for Turnstone Communications, a consultancy company which provides strategic and hands-on communications support for research institutes, healthcare organisations, and start-ups. Amy is passionate about quality communication and diversity in STEM. She likes to spend her spare time with a book in hand, or cooking, travelling, and birdwatching.

You can follow Amy and find out more about her work here:

Website: https://biovox.eu/

LinkedIn: BioVox or Amy LeBlanc

Twitter: @BioVoxBelgium or @amylebird

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/fy8e

We all know videos are one of the most popular and effective mediums to share science and that it’s possible to make great videos on your phone. Gone are the days of needing specialist, expensive equipment! But we can still all benefit from learning about how professionals approach making exciting, engaging videos.

This week Michael and Jen are joined by our wonderful UniMelbSciComm colleague Dr Graham Phillips who has had a long and illustrious career presenting science on TV. As you would imagine, Graham has a heap of advice and tips to share! Two of our UniMelbSciComm alumni, Marie Kinsey and Charlotte Gerada also share their thoughts.

Plus here are a couple of resources to help you make better science videos:

Filming Science on a Phone! - Worried you don't have all the gear to get started filming? Fear not - here's a video about how to use your phone to film science.

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/hy8e

We’re thrilled to introduce you to photographer extraordinaire Doug Gimesy in this week’s episode.

Doug is a professional conservation and wildlife photojournalist who focuses on Australian issues. A Senior Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), his clients include National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, bioGraphic, Australian Geographic, Audubon, as well various mastheads like The Guardian and NewsCorp. Initially trained as a zoologist and microbiologist, he later completed a Masters of Environment and a Masters of Bioethics. Together, these two qualifications helped shape his thinking as what type of issues he should be focusing on and why – conservation and animal welfare issues.

Believing people should focus on the issues they care about and those that are close to home, his recent work has focused on the conservation and animal welfare issues facing the platypus and the Grey-headed Flying-fox – having recently facilitated the platypus being listed as threatened species in his home state of Victoria, as well as launching a children’s book with his partner on Grey-headed Flying-foxes titled ‘Life Upside Down’. Current on-going projects include covering the illegal reptile trade out of Australia, the use of scent dogs in conservation and a series of portraits called 'Wildlife Warriors, Conservation Champions and Animal Advocates’.

Doug hopes that the images and information he shares will inspire people to stop, think, and treat the world more kindly.

You can follow Doug and learn more about his work here:

http://gimesy.com/

https://www.instagram.com/doug_gimesy/

https://www.facebook.com/DougGimesyPhotography/

https://twitter.com/douggimesy

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-gimesy/

https://www.trulyaus.com/doug-gimesy/

Some of Doug's recent publications:

National Geographic: This 'romantic' lizard is one of Australia’s most trafficked animals

Australian Photography: Life in the slow lane

The Guardian: Avian eye: how to take photos of birds that stand out from the flock

Ranger Rick: Wild Roommates (wombats)

BBC Wildlife: Behind the image – High-tech trafficking

BBC Wildlife: The Lost Voice – The Regent Honeyeater, a tiny bird found in Australian forests, has become so rare, it’s forgetting how to sing its own song

The Guardian: Fowl play: duck hunting struggles to stay afloat in Victoria – a photo essay

Transcript and more at: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/2y8e

In this episode, Michael and Jen are joined by our wonderful UniMelbSciComm colleague Dr Linden Ashcroft to discuss why editing is such an important skill. We all agree that allowing sufficient time to edit our writing is essential if we want to produce clear, concise and easy-to-read writing. Together we explore how we all learned to edit our writing and the different approaches we’ve learned along the way. We share our top tips and bond over the fact that effective editing can be a hard, but vital, skill to develop. In addition to our thoughts, hear fantastic advice from two of our UniMelbSciComm alumni, Ethan Wake and Connor McMahon.

Here are some good reads which may help your approach to editing:

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott - this is where the idea of the down draft, up draft and dental draft comes from.

Destuffing your writing - a great list of words and phrases that you can wipe out of your writing to make your piece clearer and more specific

Twenty-five editing tips to improve your copy - see how many of these address aspects of your writing that you can improve!

Five editor's secrets to help you write like a pro - five simple fixes that will improve your writing

Improve your writing with these editing tips - excellent tips to improve the clarity of your writing

Editing and proofreading - advice from the University of North Carolina

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/py8e

We can’t wait for you to meet Dr Catherine Wheller on this week’s episode.

Catherine has had a wonderfully diverse career and is currently the Communications Manager at the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF). The NYSF is a not-for-profit organisation that runs a number of programs to encourage young people in their passion for science.

Catherine is an experienced science communicator, and higher education teaching professional with a history of working in the university, tech, museum, and NGO/NFP sectors. As a communicator with a PhD in mineral thermodynamics, she is a competent analyst across emerging technologies (AI and IoT); global health (soil-transmitted helminths and mass drug administration); and earth systems (geology and climate).

Catherine has recently returned to Melbourne after 4 years in the UK at the Natural History Museum and University College London and is thrilled to contribute to increasing science literacy within the Australian public. Catherine is participating in Homeward Bound #TeamHB7 in 2022.

You can learn more about Catherine and some of the organisations she’s been involved with here:

https://twitter.com/catinthefield

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/8y8e

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Publish or perish’. But what about the more recent maxim ‘Be visible or vanish’? Regardless of your career stage, there are many advantages to having a professional online presence: it will bring new opportunities, connections and visibility. But it can be hard to know where and how best to invest your time and energy when it comes to social media. In this episode, Michael and Jen talk about why to build your profile, where and how to start, and how to ensure you are developing your profile strategically.  We also specifically consider the value of LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram for scientists. In addition to our thoughts, hear fantastic advice from two of our UniMelbSciComm alumni, Kate Huckstep and Ebony Ciarrocchi.

Here are some good reads which may help as you create or build your profile:

Scientist Guide to Social Media - this article has an awesome table comparing the different platforms, as well as tips for each different platform

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/sy8e

Welcome to Season Two of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re thrilled to introduce you to our first guest for this season, Dr Shane Huntington OAM.

Shane is the Chief Executive Officer of Little Big Steps; a charity helping kids with cancer. Shane is also a speaker, trainer and facilitator. He has been providing consulting services in communication and strategy for over 20 years.

He is the host and producer of 3RRR’s science radio program Einstein A Go Go. Over the last 30 years he has interviewed thousands of scientists and explained hundreds of scientific concepts to the public. In 2020 he was awarded an Order of Australia in recognition of his science communication work.

Shane is a prolific writer with articles on Medium.com read more than 80,000 times.

He is the Founder and Director of the Innovation Group Pty Ltd, a scientific equipment supplier in Australia and New Zealand since 1999. Until April 2021 he was at the University of Melbourne, where he had a distinguished career as an academic and leader of university strategy.

Shane was the Founder of the Telescopes in Schools Program, a Victorian based initiative designed to bring the wonders of Astronomy and education to low SES schools in Melbourne’s Northern and Western suburbs and rural districts through the prevision of research grade telescopes and support.

Shane was an academic until 2008 with a PhD in Physics. His specialty was in Photonics and Imaging and he has published more than 70 refereed journal papers. During his 10 years as a researcher he acquired more than $6M in competitive grants.

He holds an honorary appointment at the University of Melbourne in the School of Engineering and is an Ambassador for the Lost Dogs Home.

You call follow Shane and find out more about his work here:

https://shanehuntington.com/

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/ey8e

On the outside you appear confident, composed and on top of your game. But on the inside, you are wracked with self-doubt. You feel like a fraud and as though someone is about to tap you on the shoulder and ask you what you think you’re doing. You’re sure you’re not good enough, experienced enough or smart enough to be doing what you’re doing.

This week Jen and Michael chat about the Imposter Experience, better known as the Imposter Syndrome. Listen for our thoughts and advice on how to tackle feeling like an imposter plus tips from two of our UniMelb SciComm students, Stephanie Wong and Charlie Pattinson.

Here are a few good reads to help build your understanding of imposter syndrome and how to tackle it:

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/iy8e

In this episode we’re so excited to introduce you to Catriona Nguyen-Robertson who is a singing scientist: she sings in the laboratory and dreams up immunology experiments in the shower. She is a researcher at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, studying the immune response in skin allergies. An advocate for diversity in STEM, she is Secretary of the Pride in Action Network, and was Vice-President of Women in Science and Engineering at The University of Melbourne.

Catriona is also an enthusiastic science communicator. She is part of the Science Communication Teaching Team at The University of Melbourne and a Learning Facilitator with Museums Victoria. She also works as the Science Communications Officer for the Royal Society of Victoria and Convergence Science Network, and is Associate Editor of the Immunology and Cell Biology scientific journal. She regularly engages with science mentoring and outreach programs, such as Skype a Scientist, Pint of Science, In2Science, BrainSTEM, and the Gene Technology Access Centre – sharing science online, in pubs, and in schools across Victoria and the world.

You can follow Catriona and find out more about her work here:

https://twitter.com/CatrionaNR

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/jy8e

In 2014, Steven Pinker published a piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled ‘Why academic writing stinks’. While we might take offense at the notion that our writing ‘stinks’, there’s no question that the way many of us have been taught to write as researchers and scientists can be difficult for our readers to make sense of. In this episode, Michael and Jen chat about why science writing can be so hard to read and a number of different approaches to improve the clarity and readability of our writing. We focus particularly on the style of writing that is most effective for communicating about science with non-scientific audiences.

Listen for our thoughts and advice on how to improve your writing plus tips from two of our UniMelb SciComm students, Randy Mann and Steven Tang.

Here are the papers we mentioned in the podcast:

And if you’re looking for some great science to read, some of our favourites are Belinda Smith, Dyani Lewis, Ed Yong and Carl Zimmer.

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/ry8e